Food from heaven Gifts go to needy He’: s the 1 man The Terrace Emergency shelter gets an early Christmas present from Snip mine\NEWS A15 Fill a shoe box with gifts and make an impoverished child smile\COMMUNITY B1 Keeping the arena hopping and the ice smooth — check out the Zamboni man\SPORTS BS ' : ‘@ WEDNESDAY © November 3, 1999 THE PROVINCE isn’t planning to sell Skeena ea Cellulose to Texas-based Enron Corp without f the consent of unionized puip mill workers. : That pledge came Friday despite the col- lapse that day of (he court injunction the union had gained barring the province from selling the company’s shares or assets, “At this point we don't want to do it without the cooperation of the union,” government spokesman Don Zadravec said Oct. 29. Two other employee groups at the Prince Rupert pulp mill — about 75 management -or non-union employees and another 35 represen- ted by the B.C. Government and Service Em- ployees Union —- agreed last week to turn over SCI shares they’re due if the Enron sale pro- ceeds in exchange for the removal of the 10 per cent wage cut in place since the late 1997 restructuring. That leaves just the Pulp, Paper and Wood- workers local 4 opposing the deal, SCI share Pulp workers also turn down seat on company’s board of directors. . The union says tts members have decided they want to keep the shares they’ve been earning in SCI rather than take the wage hike — despite government supgestions the shares are presently worthless. Enron says it will only buy the company whole, leading the province, which holds 58.25 per cent, to pursue agrecments with the .cm- ployees and TD Bank to acquire their shares. -“Enron has made it quite clear they require al] the shares for a final deal,” Zadravec said, adding the PPWC’'s opposition threatens the sale. He noted that if the wage rallback: remains in effect, the workers will be turning down sell uncertain wages worth a secure $20 million: over. the next five years in favour of the much greater uncertainty of share ownership. John Sandrelli, lawyer for the PPWC, said the union will be back in court by Nov. 30 ta argue for a. permanent injunction pending a: trial. . The union ullimately wants a court order forcing the province to’ hand over the 20 per cént block of shares’ SCI employees are due. Those shares ‘are now in a limbo status be- cause the province argues the workers don’t ‘actually get them-until (he-end ‘of 2004, the © last year of the wage concession. Zadravec said the province had also offered the: PPWC a seat on the board of directors of SCI... ; “They’ve been’ offered a seat on the board but for whatever reason they’ ve chosen not to exercise il,” he said. $1.00 PLUS 7¢ GST - ($1.10 plus 8¢ GST outside of the Tarrace aaa) VOL. 12 NO. 30 Multiplex, forum AREA RESIDENTS have a chance to tonight to lake in mectings tied to the Nov. 20 local elec- tions. At 7 p.m. at the Thornhill Communily Centre in Thornhill, residents there can learn more about multiplex plans. A-referendum to approve con- struction of the facility takes place Nov. 20, ‘the same day-as Jocal elections. | “At the R.E.M. Lee Theatre, also at 7 p. m,, the 11 candidates For the six cily council spots take to the stage. On Nav, 4, at 7 p.m. at the Coast Inn of the Wesl, city residents have their multiplex informa- tion sessions. © And on Nov, 12, next Friday, at 7 p.m, al the R.E.M. Lee Theatre, Terrace mayoral candidates and regional district hopefuls will be debating and taking questions from the audience Here’s why multiplex tax rates differ IF YOU live in Thorohil! or other focal rural areas, you'll face a 26 per cent bigger bill for the proposed multiplex than you would if your home was inside cily limits. - A $100,000 house in Thornhill or other. ‘rural. areas afound town will pay an extra charpe on properly taxes of about $52 cach year if the full $7.6 million.com is borrowed over 20 years, The same $100,000 house in Terrace would pay about $42 extra on taxes. “It doesn’t look fair,” admits regional district’ treasur- er Verna Wickic, But she said the discrepancy i is explained by the dif- ferent ways the cily and regional ‘district distribute the tax burden between residential, commercial and indus- trial properties. Both jurisdictions charge. major industry, light indu- siry, commercial and. utilities ‘considerably higher tax rates than residential homeowners. ©’ The regional districl, however, is subject to greater restriction From the province on how much more it can charee non-residential ratepayers, , The city has greater freedom to place a bigger burden on industry and business ~ and it does — resulting in the lower rate for the multiplex for ‘Terrace residents. “The city puts more taxation burden on their indus- trial and commercial classes,” says Wickie. If both areas-used the ‘same formulas, the-amounts paid would be identical, “It starts out fair,” Wickie says. “It’s the collection that’s different. It’s not thal we're asking anyone lo pay more.’ Another factor is that there is simply much less com- mercial and industrial property to share the tax burden in Thorahill and surrounding rural areas, COMMUNITY HEALTH nurse D Nancy Dhaliwall gives James Lynch a Flu shot, Flu vaccine drop-in clinics are available November 3, 4, 5, 8 and 12 from 9 ta 5 p.m. at the Northwest Health Unit The for people aged 65 and older, caregivers or community service workers, as well as people with chronic iliness. A six dollar fee will be charge to those ineligible. Only one pneumoccocal vaccine is Since residenilal homeowners in Terrace are paying less (han their rural cousins, the other side of the coin is that non-residential ‘classes’ will pay more for the multi- shot can prevent people from catching the flu. The vaccine is free needed in a lifetime. Remember to bring your Gare Card Linear park gets longer THE LINEAR PARK to be built along Hwy16 West next year will go all the way to Kalum Lake Drive. That’s assured now that the federal govern- ment has delivered a $166,000 grant. “If we did not get this we would only be going from Eby to Kenney,” city planner David Trawin explained. “Now we will be going from Eby to Kalum Lake Drive.” The city had asked for $200,000 ftom Otta- wa, but the grant was trimmed because some portians of the park — Ike the parking lot - were ineligible. “Plus they deducted a little bit off every project so they could spread the moncy out across more projects,” Trawin explained. The 50-foot-wide park will run a full 1.6 ki- lometres with a winding asphalt trail divided for pedestrians and cyclists/rollerbladers amid grass, trees, shrubs and flowers. The plans call for a central plaza out of brick, as well as benches, gazebos, ornamental lighting and First Nations history toards. The federal money joins a $200,000 mille- nnium grant from the provincial government and the city's commitment to spend: $200,000 of its own money. ~. That still leaves the $600,000 linear park short about $35,000. But Trawin has a plan. He’s now after a $15,000 cycling network grant from the province. Those grants come from the B.C. Transportation Finance Aulhor- ity, whose newest board member is. Skeena MLA Helmut Giesbrecht, who helped deliver Victoria’s millennium grant. “Nobody bikes on the road right now be- cause it’s too dangerous,” Trawin noted. The highways ministry plans to eventually lake the highway fram Kenney to Kalum Lake Drive up to four lanes, complete with 1.5 metre bike lanes on each side. Tie extra ‘highway pavement for the bike lanes in that section would cost $150,000. Tra-’ win says it makes much more sense for Victor- ia to provide the $15,000 cycling gran! now . and save ihe eventual $150, 000 bill. Trawin also hopes the Terrace Beautifica- tion Society will get people to contribute money for memorial benches, saving another ; $10,000. “Then if there’s any shortfall we would feel comfortable going back to council and asking: for $5,000 or $10,000 more to do this’ thing right,” he added. : City staff are already trying to trim the pto-- ject’s costs where possible, he added, because now that the feds chip in of expectations that the city will acquire the remaining properlics al the Eby end of the linear park, adding stightly to the consiruclion costs. A deal -has ‘been reached to eilher buy. or lease the Shell oil property just west of Eby for the park, he said. And he said negotiations with CN: Rail to purchase a property 1} has: in thal same area are going “very well”. : “We're hoping to-get those locked up by the end of the year so we can design this: thing . all the way from Eby: $t,”* The cily.is-getling ready to call for propo- . sals for the detailed construction drawings and landscape: plans, he added.” © The section west of Kenney Sl. won't be built to as high a standard.as the more highly travelled’ castern most section because. of bud- pel considerations, «| But -Trawin called the overall: project a good use of cily money, noting that’ for.the cost of repaving half a block of a street the city: will get a kilometre and a half of park. - “It will hopefully add a little bit-of pride for everyone ‘who lives here,” he. said. can use. il and everybody ean use it” “Tourists plex in ‘Terrace than in Thornhill. A business in Terrace will pay about 10 per cent more than a business in ‘Thornhill. Light industria] properties will pay about. five. per cent more in Terrace. ; And farm and ‘utilities. in: town will pay. a whopping twice as much for the: -muttiplex: as similar properties in the rural areas. * The city and regional district have igrecd to split the multiplex’ construction’ cosls.about 70-30 if approved j in the Nov: 20 referendum. - That split-is based on the total assessed value uf pro- perties in Terrace ‘versus the rural areas. : . “It’salso the basis for city- regional district cost-sharing agreements On things like pool, arena and. library. opera- ling costs, ° Fairness of the cost-sharing can be judged in other ways’ toa. City recreation superintendent Steve Scott says that the rural areas represent 36-per cent of (he - greater Tertuce area population. On that basis, he notes, ‘paying 30 per cent of the costs isa good deal. Treaty vote ducked By JEFF NAGEL THE CITY of Terrace won't be adding a referendum question asking local volers whether they support the Nisga’a treaty, The proposal to do that ~ sent to all B.C. municipali- lics by the - B.C, Fisheries Survival Coalition — never even made it to the council table for formal debate and a-vole. That’s because mayor Jack Talstra opted, instead to have the survival’ coalition’s Sept. 10 letter distributed to all council members for information ‘only, rather than be added tothe agenda; -Any city councillor-could have talsed the item to the, council table. for discussion, he noted, but none did. Cont’ d Page Aa